other Mobs, were extremely fuperftitious, and differ'd not from the prefent Generation at Rome, but in having a more innocent and lefs abfurd Superftition.

AND if CICERO's Works come once to be generally read, as of all human Writings they best deserve, it will be found that they no more tend to the Service of any Priestly Purpose whatfoever, than the Writings of the Fathers of the Church (to whom the Laity us'd to be refer'd to find what was not in them) do the Purpose of any Church now upon the face of the earth.

ness, puts him befides himself, and diforders his Thoughts: thefe are the Furys which torment the Wicked, thefe the Flames, and thefe the Torches.

Again he fays, When you harangue the People with malicious Eloquence, when you demolish the Houses of Citizens, when with ftones you pelt and drive the most worthy Senators from the Forum; when you fet fire to your Neighbours Houfes, and burn Temples; when you ftir up Slaves to Sedition, and difturb the Celebration of Religious Ordinances; when you know no difference between your Wife and your Sifter, and matter not whofe Bed you defile; when you leudly revel, and outrageously debauch; then you fuffer thefe Torments which alone the Gods have ordain'd to punish the Wickedness of Men.

hæ funt impiorum furiæ, he flammæ, he faces. Opera, Ed. Gron. p. 1827.

Tu cùm furiales in concionibus voces mittis, cùm domos civium evertis, cùm lapidibus optimos viros Foro pellis, cùm ardentes faces in vicinorum tecta jactas, cùm ædes facras inflammas, cùm fervos concitas, cùm facra ludofque conturbas, cùm uxorem faroremque non difcernis; cùm quod ineas cubile non fentis; cùm baccharis, cùm furis; tum das eas poenas, quæ funt fole hominum fceleri à diis immortalibus conftitutæ. Ibid. p. 1622.

(9.) CATQ

(9.) CATO of Utica has this great Character from VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, *That he was a Man of so great Virtue, that he was the very Picture of it, and in every thing by his Knowledg approach'd more to the Gods than to Men. He never did any good Actions for the reputation of doing them, but because he could not do otherwife. He thought nothing reasonable but what was just; and being free from all the Defects of Men, had Fortune in his power. And the inimitable LUCAN has rais'd a noble Monument, not only to his Wisdom and Virtue, but to his Free-Thinking. And I expect your thanks for giving it you in the Tranflation of an Ingenious Author, as well as in the Original. On the occafion of CAT O's marching at the head of an Army through the Defarts of Africa near the Temple of JUPITER AMMON, the Poet fays,

ftill) + HIS Hoft (as Crouds are fuperftitious Curious of Fate, of future Good and Ill, And fond to prove Prophetick AMMON'S Skill;

Intreat

* Homo virtuti fimillimus, & per omnia ingenio diis quam hominibus, propior, qui nunquam rectè fecit, ut facere videretur, fed quia aliter facere non poterat; cuique id folum vifum eft rationem habere, quod haberet juftitiam omnibus humanis vitiis immunis, femper fortunam in fua poteftate habuit. L. 2. c. 35. + Comitefque Catonem Orant, exploret Libycum memorata per orbem

Numina,

Intreat their Leader to the Gods would go,
And from this Oracle Rome's Fortune know :
But LABIENUS Chief the Thought approv'd,
And thus the common Suit to CATO mov'd.i
Chance and the Fortune of the way,
be faid,
Have brought JOVE's facred Counfels to our
Aid;
This greatest of the Gods, this mighty Chief,
In each Diftrefs fhall be a fure Relief;
Shall point the diftant Dangers from afar,
And teach the future Fortunes of the War.
To thee, O CATO, Pious, Wife, and Fuft,
Their dark Decrees the cautious Gods Shall
trust;

To thee their fore-determin'd Will fball tell: Their Will has been thy Law, and thou hast kept it well.

Fate bids thee now the noble Thought improve; Fate brings thee here to meet and talk with JOVE.

Inquire betimes what various Chance fball come To impious CESAR, and thy native Rome Try to avert at least thy Country's Doom.

Numina, de fama tam longi judicet ævi.
Maximus Hortator fcrutandi voce Deorum
Eventus Labienus erat. Sors obftulit, inquit,
-Et fortuna viæ, tam magni numinis ora,
Confiliumque Dei: tanto duce poffumus uti
Per Syrtes, bellique datos cognofcere cafus.
Nam cui crediderim Superos arcana daturos,
Dicturofque magis, quam fanéto vera Catoni!
Certè vita tibi femper directa fupernas

Ad leges, fequerifque Deum. Datur ecce loquendi
Cum Jove libertas: inquire in fata nefandi
Cæfaris, & Patriæ venturos excute mores:

Ask

Jure

Ask if these Arms our Freedom hall restore;
Or elfe, if Laws and Right shall be no more.
Be thy great Breaft with facred Knowledg
fraught,

To lead us in the wandring Maze of Thought:
Thou that to Vertue ever wer't inclin'd,
Learn what it is, how certainly defin'd,
And leave fome perfect Rule to guide Mankind.
Full of the God that dwelt within his Breaft,
The Hero thus his fecret Mind express'd,
And inborn Truths reveal'd; Truths which
might well

Become ev'n Oracles themselves to tell.

Where would thy fond, thy vain Enquiry go? What mystisk Fate, what Secret wouldst thou

know?

Is it a doubt if Death fhould be my Doom,
Rather than live till Kings and Bondage come,
Rather than fee a Tyrant crown'd in Rome!
Or would'st thou know, if, what we value here,
Life, be a Trifle hardly worth our Care?
What by old Age and Length of Days we gain,
More than to lengthen out the Sense of Pain?
Or

Jure fuo populis uti, legumque licebit,
An bellum civile perit. Tua pectora facra
Voce reple: duræ faltem virtutis amator
Quere quid eft virtus, & pofce exemplar honefti.
Ille deo plenus, tacitâ quem mente gerebat,
Effudit dignas adytis è pectore voces:
Quid quæri Labiene jubes? An liber in armis,
Occubuiffe velim potius, quam regna videre.?
An fit vita nihil, fed longam differat ætas ?

An

Or if this World with all its Forces join'd,
The univerfal Malice of Mankind,
Can fbake or hurt the brave and honeft Mind?
If ftable Virtue can her ground maintain,
While Fortune feebly threats and frowns in

vain?

If Good in lazy Speculations dwell,
And barely be the Will of doing well?
If Right be independent of Success,
And Conqueft cannot make it more or less?
Are thefe, my Friends, the Secrets you would
know,

Thofe Doubts for which to Oracles we go?
'Tis known, 'tis plain, 'tis all already told,
And Horned AMMON can no more unfold:
From God deriv'd, to God by Nature join'd,
We act the Dictates of his mighty Mind:
And tho the Priests are mute and Temples ftill,
God never wants a Voice to Speak his Will:
When first we from the teeming Womb were
brought,

With inborn Precepts then our Souls were
fraught,

And then the Maker his new Creatures taught. Then when he form'd and gave us to be Men, gave us all our useful Knowledg Then, Canft

He

An noceat vis ulla bono? Fortunaque perdat
Oppofitâ virtute minas? Laudandaque velle
Sit fatis, & nunquam fucceffu crefcat honeftum?
Scimus, & hoc nobis non altius inferet Ammon.
Hæremus cuncti Superis, temploque tacente
Nil facimus non fponte Dei: nec vocibus ullis
Numen eget dixitque femel nafcentibus auctor

Quicquid